Sex And The Sixties Girl: Meeting Men 60′s Style

But according to Helen Gurley Brown, life provides an endless array of opportunities to meet men. While most of the ideas for this that she recommends in Sex and the Single Girl are ones that no one I know would ever even consider—let alone try—I figured if I was going to be following in her stead, it was time I opened my mind a little.

The way Helen saw it, if, you were at a bar and spotted a cute guy bringing a drink to another girl, you ought to bump into him. It was a ridiculous notion of course, but I had to admit that this was something of a full-proof plan. While we both might end up covered in mai tai’s and, of course, there was the would-be mai tai drinking girl sitting at the table waiting for her date to consider, Helen had one thing straight: there was simply no way that the former drink holder could escape having a conversation with me.

Alas, I just didn’t have that one in me.

Luckily, not all her ideas involved getting doused in drink. There was, for example, her suggestion that you wear an attention-grabbing pin (she wore one that said “I have gray hair, brown eyes and a black heart”) or trot out an interesting towel at the beach (she recommends one that features a checkers game). Faithful disciple that I had instantly become, I found a checkers towel online (Kmart, wouldn’t you know) and optimistically packed it in my bag for a weekend a trip out to the Hamptons. Did I care that I didn’t remember for the life of me how to play checkers? Absolutely not. The towel was God damn adorable. And perhaps, I thought, my would-be suitor would be able to provide a refresher course—a concept so cute-sounding that I could practically picture it happening to Kate Hudson in a movie.

Alas, the men on the beach in Montauk didn’t seem to agree. Or let me rephrase: the men on the beach in Montauk didn’t seem to notice my towel at all. They were too caught up in surfing, or sunbathing, or talking to their girlfriends who weren’t lying on towels featuring children’s board games.

Deciding that I was what was standing in my way, I vowed to be more pro-active.

So, one morning, I wandered down to the beach at an ungodly early hour, otherwise known as the time when the surfers prepare to go out. It was too early for sunbathing but not, I decided, too early to put on a bathing suit and drape myself in an adorable towel. Because hope springs eternal, I even brought the checkers pieces that came with the towel. Clutching my Ditch Witch coffee, I sat on a bench facing the ocean, my checkers board towel under my ass. Nothing happened. A reasonably attractive surfer guy walked up, coffee in hand, and joined me on the bench just as another guy began putting on his wetsuit a few feet away. My odds seemed pretty good. I started talking to the one closest to me, the one on the bench, about surfing, entirely clear about the fact that this was going to be a problem very soon since I know next to nothing about surfing, but my conversational options seemed limited and I still wasn’t entirely awake. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Great day for surfing.

Him (smiles): Sure is.

Me: What…waves.

He nodded. We both sipped. By now, the other surfer guy had wandered away and while I’m no mathematician, I realized that this meant my odds had decreased 50 percent. But, really, it felt more like 90 percent. I wasn’t sure what Helen expected to happen. Was he supposed to compliment me on my towel? Invite me to play a game right then and there? Or merely glance at what was underneath my ass and determine that only a woman he could fall madly in love with would buy it? I wasn’t even certain I was attracted to this guy and yet I was dying for him to engage with me, to prove to me that Helen was right about this towel being a good way to meet men because that would somehow prove that she was right about everything—which would then prove that I had, indeed, found a mentor who would make sure I could have the sort of happy, fulfilled life she did.

After a few minutes, my would-be surfer boyfriend stood up, wished me a great day and ran toward the water with his board.

One thing that I’ve found is possibly the modern-day equivalent of the pin idea is a graphic T with something you’re interested in on it. In college I had a “more cowbell” T-shirt that people constantly commented on, more men that women though. I also had a T-shirt featuring a minor character from an Adult Swin cartoon (so something that really only devotees would recognize) and anyone who DOES recognizes instantly feels comfortable talking to you.

It’s basically like walking around all day with the book you’re reading plastered to your chest.

Anna

Ha. I actually tried a T-shirt. I got this one from a French cafe that had a line written in French. I was taking a French class at the time (to be explained in a future column). Didn’t inspire a single conversation. Though it did make people look at my boobs, where the words were displayed, more.

Joey Zilka

Hey Anna, Its funny that your dating stories help me out with my own issues. Its a good thought, though I have no idea what I could wear that might get a girl to talk to me, that wouldn’t also make me appear to like men. If I think hard enough though, perhaps it will come to me. A thought though. I have LOTS of female friends, we hang out all the time, go to bars, and whatnot, and hmmm, I never get any girls eyeballing me, probably because I appear to already be with a girl. Were I to approach a girl, and start chit chat, she may think I’m being strange talking to her while my girlfriend remains behind, and if I bring the girl with me, unless I make it a point to say she isn’t my girlfriend, its still weird. If I do say that she isn’t, that makes it worse, because then they know why I’m talking to them. So I never approach a woman. which sucks when you don’t want to date any of the ones you already know. Best of Luck hun, You’re gorgeous, and funny, you’ll find someone.

Tanya

I have a pin that’s a 1950′s style heart that says, “Fuck all y’all.” and I have half my head shaved, and I get a crapton of compliments/comments that result in conversations.

tanya

*Sacred Heart tattoo, I am apparently not awake.

Marc

You’re off to an interesting start. Pins/Buttons sound a little dated, this coming from a guy who pnce had 40 on his jacket. I like the towel idea, but talking to surfers before they’ve hit the water is always a waste of time. They’re thinking about getting in the water, watching the waves break as they plan out their session, so anything you said went right out the other ear. Unlike writiers, surfers are hard to distract. A fun read. Hopefully you’re not the Wylie Coyote of meeting men.